Air circulator



A. KOFF AIR CIRCULATOR May 25, 1954 2 She ets-Sheet 1 Filed May 17, 1951INVENTOR.

A77- Tam/En A. KOFF AIR CIRCULATOR May 25, 1954 2 Sheets-$heet 2 FiledMay 17, 1951 FT N 5 @W m e R r E M. 4

FIG. 4.

Patented May 25, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE AIR CIRCULATORAlexander Kali, Los Angeles, Calif. Application May 17, 1951, Serial No.226,908

3 Claims.

1 This invention relates to air circulators or distributors, andparticularly to an air circulator and distributor which rapidlydistributes and circulates air of any temperature throughout a room orbuilding.

Hot air circulators are known, several types being disclosed in U. S.Patents No. 687,154 of November 19, 1901; No. 1,040,140 of October 1,1912; No. 1,645,140 of October 11, 1927; No. 1,825,423 of September 29,1931; and No. 2,477,619 of October 2, 1949. The present invention is animprovement over these prior air distributors for many reasons, whichwill be apparent from the description hereinafter. For instance, thepresent invention provides a forced air drive which may be controlled,the air forcing elements not impeding the air fiow. Furthermore, thepath of the air fiow does not cause drafts. The air is cleaned andpurified and its temperature rapidly equalized, since its distributionis quickly accomplished, as gravity is not depended upon for thispurpose.

The unit may be used with substantially all forms of hot air heaterssuch as fioor furnaces,

steam or water radiators, etc. The unit purifies air and will functionequally well during hot weather as a cooling unit.

The principal object of the invention, therefore, is to'facilitate thecirculation of air to control temperature.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved air circulatorand purifier for either hot or cold air.

A further object of the invention is to provide a controllable aircirculator to produce a uniform temperature in a room or building.

A still further object of the invention is to provide an improved airconditioner for a building.

Although the novel features which are believed to be characteristic ofthis invention will be pointed out with particularity in the appendedclaims, the manner of its organization and the mode of its operationwill be better understood by referring to the following description,read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, forming a parthereof, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along the line 2-2 ofFig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged, cross-sectional detail view of the air filter ofthe invention.

Fig. 4 is a back view of the invention, and

Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 5 5 of Fig. 2.

Referring now to the drawings, in which the same numerals identify likeelements, the invention is shown fitted to a rectangular form of airregister 5 extending from the floor of a room, the register being of anystandard type to which hot or cold air is directed. To accommodate thisform of register, the unit has a rear upright frame section 6 which maybe attached to the wall by screws such as shown at 1 (see Fig. 5). Forother forms of registers, the back unit 6 may be made to conform to theparticular shape and size of the air register.

The upright section 6 has folded edge connectors 8, in the folds ofwhich tapered side sections it are inserted. The other edges II ofsections It are also folded, in folds of which the right angle flangesof a front plate or panel [2 are inserted. The top of the unit iscovered by a plate 13. It is to be understood that other forms ofconstruction of this casing or outer housing may be used.

Adjacent the bottoms of side plates IB and attached thereto by angleplates l5 and [4, are air cleaning or purifying filters I1 and [8,respectively. These filters may be of any standard type, such as spunglass filters with openings [9 providing passage of the airtherethrough.

Attached substantially at the horizontal center of and to the backsurface of front panel [2, is a semi-circular tube 20 at the bottom ofwhich is located a blower 2| having a fan 22 and a motor 23. The fan islocated substantially mid-way between the top and bottom of the register5, so that a large proportion of the air coming through the register 5will be driven or forced up the tube 20 and then directed substantiallyhorizontally by a curved surfaced bafile 25 for the tube 26 (see arrows28). The air is expelled through the lower portion of a grill 26 intothe room, as indicated by arrow 28a. Air which is not directly driven orforced up the tube 20 will be urged upwardly by the Vacuum created bythe air passing out of the grill 26, this air coming from both theregister 5 and also from the filters l1 and Is.

There are thus created, by the fan 22, two circulatory air paths, thesepaths coinciding over portions. thereof, the air being mixed at the exitfrom the lower portion of grill 26. That is, the heated air from theregister 5 driven by fan 22 creates circulation of hot air from theregister and also some air through the air cleaning filters I! and 18,which may enter fan 22. This is one path. The other path is air throughthe filters and some from register 5, which is circulated by exit of airfrom the first path at the upper end of tube 20. This creates rapid aircirculation and 3 the mixing of the original hot air and room air.Furthermore, the air already discharged into the room is cleaned orconditioned by passing through the filters I1 and I8.

However, to provide more clean or purified air and a better balance oruniform temperature of the air, a second blower unit 39 is providedhaving a fan 3! and a motor 32. Both motors 23 and 32 are enclosed in acasing 34 attached to the front panel l2, and the fan 3] is closer tofilters I! and it, particularly filter l8, than fan 22. The blower 39accelerates and causes more air to pass through the filters ll and I8,increasing the air conditioning action of the unit. With this air, asmall proportion of air directly from the register is mixed to providethe desired balance of temperature.

It is to be noted that blower 3t discharges its air into a secondsemi-circular tube 36 attached to the back surface of panel [2, the airfollowing the path shown by the arrows 31. To maintain a certainisolation of the air from the register 5 to fan 22, the tube 36 issurrounded by a housing 3%. However, the tube 38 terminates within thehousing so that the suction or vacuum provided by the air passing out ofthe upper end of tube 36 will draw the air between the tube 3% and thecasing 39 upwardly where it is discharged through the upper portion ofthe grill 25, and directed substantially horizontally by the curvedsurface of the baffle 52. It. also will accelerate the upward movementof any air within the easing, some of which will be original hot airfrom the register 5.

Operation of the air circulator, therefore, is such that not only is acertain portion or the incoming heated air driven into the room at apreferred height which is approximately six and one-half feet from thefloor, and thus, above the heads of persons in the room, but this air isdirectly mixed with filtered air from the room. This first mixing of theair up tube 29 with the air drawn up the casing by the siphon action ofthe air up tube 29 lowers the temperature of the air from the registeras it passes into the room. The portion or" the mixture through thefilters may be cleaner than the air from the register.

To improve this temperature balance, particularly when the register airis at a high temperature and it is desired to heat the room quicklywithout inconvenience to the people in the room, the air mixture justdescribed is further conditioned by the room air and some air directlyfrom the register 5. Thus, the air discharged substantially horizontallyinto the room from the register 26 is composed of a well mixed andproportioned amount of direct high temperature air and three intermixedcolumns of air of lower temperature, the complete mixture, ierefore,

being particularly uniform when discharged into the room. Thisdischarged air is also well cleaned by passage through the filters.Thus, the air in a large room or rooms may be quickly brought to thedesired temperature, since the unit is capable of handling a largevolume of air in a short time period. Although the air would circulateslowly by gravity, the unit increases the distribution of the air andcontrols its distribution. That is, for small rises intemperature insmall enclosures, only fan 22 may be all that is required.

As mentioned above, the device may be also used for distributing airfrom steam or water registers, or from door furnaces of any type. It isalso suitable for circulating cool air during hot weather, the sameproperly proportioned mixtures being obtainable regardless of thetemperature of the incoming air. The system, of course, operates in thereverse order of temperature gradients when used for cooling.

I claim:

1. An air circulator for a room comprising a casing having. openings atthe top and bottom thereof, means within said casing for conducting airin a predetermined air path upwardly and discharging it substantiallyhorizontally through a portion of the opening at the top of said casing,said means including an air tube having a lower inlet portion and anupper outlet portion terminating at said top opening and a battle atsaid upper outlet portion for changing the direction of the air in saidtube substantially ninety degrees, movement of said air out of said tubedrawing other air in said casing out of said casing past said baffle atsaid portion of said opening, a second means within the casing forconductingair in another air path upwardly and discharging itsubstantially horizontally through another portion ofi said opening atthe top of said casing and parallel to the air being discharged by saidfirst mentioned means, said second means including a second tube havinga lower inlet and an upper outlet within said casing, a second baiiieabove and spacedfrom the outlet of said last mentioned tube andpositioned above said first mentioned ba'lile for changing the directionof the air in said second air path substantially ninetydegrees as it isdischarged through other portion of said opening at the top of saidcasing, and a housing surrounding and sp ced i'rom said second tube andwithin said casing, said housing having an inlet adjacent the inlet ofsaid second tube and an outlet adjacent the outlet or said second tube.

2. An air circulator in accordance with claim 1, in which said tubeshave fans at the respective inlets thereof for directly moving the airup said tubes, the movement of air outoi said second tube drawing. airout of said housing.

3. An air circulator in accordance with claim 1, in which said firstmentioned air conducting means includes a fan at the inlet portion ofsaid first mentioned tube, and said second mentioned air conductingmeans includes a fan at the inlet of said second tube, the inlet of saidsecond tube being lower than the inlet portion of said firstmentionedtube.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Great;Britain Mar. 24, 1948

